Story structure?
July 27th 2009 01:14
What I've personally found (and this won't work for everyone -- it's just an individual thing), is that I need a mix of Rowlings and Allende. It's one thing to plot out the scene structure, to say that in scene 1 character X does Y, in scene 2 she does Z -- but it's quite another thing to enter into the nitty gritty of it.
So, as per instruction, I work out a story blueprint, and then I try to write it. But I always find that the writing wants to go somewhere entirely different from the plan. So I'll continue with that tangent until I get blocked. At which point I'll need to go back to the blueprint and revise it and think about it some more.
The end result is a child of both free writing and structure.
***
Notes
-- On method or freedom: Stanislavsky writes somewhere that if an actor is a genius, then the best thing is to get out of their way -- but for everyone else, there should be technique to fall back on.
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Comment by Norm
Consumption Malfunction
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Comment by Morgan Bell
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Comment by Nonymous
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How to structure a story? I really don't know. If you figure out a good way, tell me! I think anything could be a seed of a story -- an image, a bit of dialogue, an emotion... and then you get ideas for particular things it would be good to put into the story -- particular scenes or moments... But how to take those bits and pieces and shape them into a dramatically powerful form?...
Knowing where you're going can help -- if you have a particular ending in mind, or a particular feeling at the end. You can work retrospectively and figure out what you need to get to that point...
I was at a screenwriting lecture recently, given by some Hollywood production manager guy. His words of wisdom might or might not be useful to you... Goes something like this.
1. Write a title.
2. Write, in one sentence, the theme of the story. "Men and women can never be friends", "Vengence never tastes as sweet as you think it will", or whatever. When you're stuck in the course of writing, write down the theme, and see if that shakes anything lose.
3. Every film should have 5 uh-ohs, 5 oh shits, and 1 oh my god. Make a list of these.
4. Every movie has 3 acts, and 40-60 scenes. Take a piece of paper, write down the numbers 1 to 40 on the side, and specify what happens in each scene. Think about it as a jigsaw puzzle. Start with the beginning and the ending.
5. Copyright the story outline, and register it with the writers' guild.
6. Give the outline to a writer who wants to break into movies. Pay him/her $500 a week. Give him/her 1 month to produce a first draft, then two weeks to produce a second draft.
Norm --
Character and fate? I don't know what the Greeks meant by that comment, and I think it's a topic I'm ill-equipped to talk meaningfully about...
My kneejerk reaction is that not all stories have destiny as a prominent theme, and when I think about character, I think of stuff like gender, appearance, family history, psychology, and the choices he/she makes in the course of a story -- so, not just fate...
But maybe there's a sense in which a character's purpose, or what ultimately befalls a character, is somehow definitive of that character. Or maybe many good stories have characters with clear competing desires, and these put them on an fated trajectory...
I don't know. I'm sure there's some deep relationship between fate and character, but I can't articulate it.
Comment by Norm
Consumption Malfunction
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The thing about fate and the aspects of character you've described is that many, if not all, of those things aren't up to us.
But look at that new VicRoads ad where the dope-smoking driver dies. If he had have smoked a bit more, he would never have bothered to drive. And never would have stepped out the driver's side into traffic. That's his fatal flaw.
Then again if he was perfect, which so many 'characters' are, then he would have lost his beautiful girlfriend to a more responsible type... and died a bit on the inside.
Comment by Morgan Bell
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write a title, write a theme . . . you know that sounds simple, but i have not done that, well sometimes i have a name but it never seems meaningful enough . . . i should just call it Bob
so what is the difference between an "uh-oh" and an "oh shit"?
you know for ages i was tossing up whether to write a script or a novel, feature film screenplay formulas are just in my head, and i see it as a movie when i visualise it . . . i might do a 1-40 as a brain storm
hi Norm,
writing about things that cant be articulated, yes!
i think it is difficult to write about things you really love or really hate without coming off as gushing or ranting
and you should write what you know, but you can never be objective about things that are close to you